Every application of integration by parts can be done with a tabular method. The trick is to identify and consider each new integral in the table before deciding how to proceed. This paper supplements a classic introduction to integration by parts with a particular tabular method called Row Integration by Parts (RIP). Approaches to tabular methods…

While research on the opportunity to learn about mathematics concepts provided by textbooks at the secondary level is well documented, there is still a paucity of similar research at the undergraduate level. Contributing towards addressing this knowledge gap, the present study examined opportunities to engage in quantitative and covariational…

In the multivariable calculus course, a standard application of triple integration is to find volumes of bounded regions in R[superscript 3]. In this article, we consider the problem of computing volumes, by way of examples, of regions bounded by planes and quadric surfaces. For illustration, we present the solution to two basic but non-standard…

When Johann Bernoulli published his lectures on integrals in 1742, integral calculus had become very advanced since the time of their composition in 1692. Nevertheless, these lectures are of excellent clarity and simplicity even when the book deals with major problems of Mathematical Physics. Just to pique some interest, we offer a commented…

In this paper we present two simulations designed with GeoGebra that illustrate dynamically a key concept in Vector Calculus: line integrals of vector fields, along with other associated mathematical properties and applications. Students are not required to know the GeoGebra environment: a user-friendly interface with buttons, functionalities and…

Computer technologies and especially computer algebra systems (CAS) allow students to overcome some of the difficulties they encounter in the study of real numbers. The teaching of calculus can be considerably more effective with the use of CAS provided the didactics of the discipline makes it possible to reveal the full computational potential of…

Covariational reasoning has been the focus of many studies but only a few looked into this reasoning in the polar coordinate system. In fact, research on student's familiarity with polar coordinates and graphing in the polar coordinate system is scarce. This paper examines the challenges that students face when plotting polar curves using the…

Viscous damping is commonly discussed in beginning differential equations and physics texts but dry friction or Coulomb friction is not despite dry friction being encountered in many physical applications. One reason for avoiding this topic is that the equations involve a jump discontinuity in the damping term. In this article, we adopt an energy…

The goal of this paper is to promote computational thinking among mathematics, engineering, science and technology students, through hands-on computer experiments. These activities have the potential to empower students to learn, create and invent with technology, and they engage computational thinking through simulations, visualizations and data…

Research has shown that students have difficulties with understanding the process of determining whether an object is speeding up or slowing down, especially when it is applied to the analysis of motion in the negative direction. As inductively organized learning through its scaffolding sequencing supports the process of knowledge acquisition…

The story is often told of the calculation by G.I. Taylor of the yield of the first ever atomic bomb exploded in New Mexico in 1945. It has indeed become a staple of the classroom whenever dimensional analysis is taught. However, while it is true that Taylor succeeded in calculating this figure at a time when it was still classified, most versions…

In computing real-valued functions, it is ordinarily assumed that the input to the function is known, and it is the output that we need to approximate. In this work, we take the opposite approach: we show how to compute the values of some transcendental functions by approximating the input to these functions, and obtaining exact answers for their…

This article offers modelling opportunities in which the phenomena of the spread of disease, perception of changing mass, growth of technology, and dissemination of information can be described by one differential equation--the logistic differential equation. It presents two simulation activities for students to generate real data, as well as…

In this article, the author reports results in their efforts to model sublimation of carbon dioxide and the associated kinetics order and parameter estimation issues in their model. They have offered the reader two sets of data and several approaches to determine the rate of sublimation of a piece of solid dry ice. They presented several models…

In this article we examine 2 x 2 first-order systems of ordinary differential equations and show how to identify separatrices for phase plane portraits when the system has a saddle point critical value. We describe how to use a computer algebra system to generate trajectories from contour plots, when possible, and determine the equation of the…